PONDA: Special Gram Sabhas were convened in Dharbandora taluka on Sunday to appoint Forest Rights Committees under the Scheduled Tribes and other traditional Forest Dwellers Act (recognition of Forest Rights Act 2006 and Rules 2007).

Each committee comprises 15 members of which five members have to be from the ST community. However, if there are no ST women candidate then five women members can be chosen from other communities. The act will help people residing in forest land or are using land for farming purposes to claim ownership.

The personnel of Forest Department and the police on Monday evicted a group of tribespeople, owing allegiance to the pro-CPI(M) Adivasi Kshema Samiti (AKS), who had encroached upon 17.65 hectares of vested forest at Thumbassery, near Makkiyad, under the North Wayanad Forest Division in the district.

In the peaceful action, the police arrested 60 people, including 42 men, 14 women, and four children. The eviction team destroyed the 40 huts put up by the tribespeople. (The eviction team had held discussions with AKS leaders and members before the eviction, sources said.).

JAIPUR: A survey report with quantifiable data on the backwardness of 82 tribes in the state was presented to the state government by the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur. The report is a comparative study on the social, economic and educational status of more than 91,000 families.

The report has been prepared on the directions of the Rajasthan High Court while hearing a PIL after the state government had granted a special 5% reservation to the Gujjars in the state.

JAIPUR: Over 150 people belonging to the Behrupia tribe fell ill, at least 10 of them seriously, after having a feast at a social get-together in Jamdoli under Kanota police station area on Monday night. Officials said some of the milk-products items were contaminated leading to the food-poisoning. While most of them were discharged after primary treatment, others still were undergoing treatment till Tuesday evening.

A federal court judge on Friday denied a Chevron Corp bid to prevent Ecuadorean plaintiffs from collecting on an $18 billion damages award against the U.S.

Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has sought to blame an influx of Afghan refugees for persistence of polio in his country as Commonwealth leaders pledged to eradicate the crippling disease by an

State Government is likely to come out with a notification directing setting up of a committee to scrutinize the suggestions given and objections raised regarding the Forest Policy 2011, within a week.

The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) — at the initiative of which the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was rolled out in UPA-I — is taking a fresh look at h

Fear of submergence haunts Kurturu, a village nestled in the Papi hills of the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh.

In 2005, a band of officials, an unusual sight in this remote village in West Godavari district, visited the place and marked a rock.

Rural households having a member earning more than Rs 10,000 a month or anyone serving in a government or government-aided organisation or owning a landline phone will not be included in the below poverty line (BPL) category in the new poverty census being conducted by states.

However, the new census, which also includes questions about religion and castes, will compulsory include rural househo